Disturbing conditions at Kanye West’s Donda Academy where ‘sick students forced to stay in school & windows blacked out’

A FORMER teacher at Kanye West's Donda Academy has revealed new details about her disturbing experiences at the school, claiming sick students "suffered" and kids did not get fresh air.

Cecilia Hailey first sued Kanye, along with other teachers, last year for wrongful termination and is looking ahead to their trial date scheduled for April 2025.

In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, she alleged sick students would be forced to stay with other children in the school when they fell ill.

She also alleged the windows were blacked out, and they didn't have a playground or get any fresh air during the school day.

Hailey was initially hired by Donda Academy in November 2022 as a substitute teacher before being taken on full-time, and she claims she was fired for raising concerns in March 2023.

The lawsuit alleges teachers complained about how it was not "operating as a proper school," as it did not have janitorial services, a school nurse on staff, or medical access, among other issues.

Cecilia now claims, "We did have kids that got sick. It was still Covid time, and they would sit around on a couch on one of those foam cushions and just kind of suffer through it until somebody came and picked them up.

"That's just not acceptable. We didn't have a separate room or a separate place to put sick children.

"We didn't have a nurse on staff and so we had EpiPens [for allergic reactions] all over the place, nobody knew where anything was.

"We didn't have records for students, and we didn't have proof of who they were, if they were registered.

"I mean, a kid could come off the street and they may want you to put them into school, it was ridiculous. It was totally ridiculous.

"We had one student that used to leave campus and nobody knew she was gone.

"We'd look up and be like, 'Where is she? 'Oh somebody's aunty picked her up'. We're like, 'You can’t do that, you know, we're responsible for these children.'"

The U.S. Sun reached out to Kanye, Donda Academy, and then-Principal Moira Love about the new claims and ongoing lawsuit but did not hear back.

Love is not a defendant in the case and no longer works at Donda.

The windows of the school in Chatsworth, a suburban neighborhood in Los Angeles, were blacked out.

The decision came after Kanye allegedly removed the windows at the old premises, a ranch campus in Simi Valley, around 14 miles away.

Hailey said, "No windows, you know, everything covered over in black ... we should have at least been able to decorate the school with colors so that children could be stimulated. Everything was black and white.

"They didn’t have actual chairs, there's these foam kind of bean bag looking things that didn't even have beans in them that the kids had made and were sitting on, they were not comfortable, and we taught from a round table.

"You should not teach kids from a round table; really, they should have their own individual space. And it was just very uncomfortable.

"And the same room that they learned in is the same room that they played in.

"So we moved the tables, and the kids just had that open area as a gym area or an area every day.

"Kanye had a problem with stairs, and so the classes that were conducted upstairs had now been moved to downstairs.

"So we had kindergarten, first, second, third, and fourth grade down on one level, taught by two to three people, and then the fifth through the 12th grade was taught across the street at another campus, really by one teacher who had fifth through to 12th grade."

But despite Kanye's rules, Hailey said teachers eventually let the children go upstairs to play and have classes.

"We didn't let Kanye know that we had moved back upstairs; he would have had a fit because they weren’t supposed to be up there," she alleged.

"A lot of the kids needed counseling after school, that we needed to put in place.

"We were not meeting the kid's needs with disabilities, they were all behind, we needed to bring them up to grade, I could go on and on about what was going on."

The U.S. Sun also sat down with attorneys Ron Zambrano and Neama Rahmani from West Coast Trial Lawyers, who are representing Hailey and other teachers.

They are also working with client Isaiah Meadows, a former assistant principal at Yeezy Christian Academy, the predecessor to Donda Academy, who has filed a separate suit.

Meadows, who is also suing for wrongful termination, claimed he was suspended and later fired after complaining about conditions at the ranch school.

Kanye denied the claims in both lawsuits, and two separate jury trials are scheduled for 2025.

Naema said, "In the state of California, it is very easy to have a private school. It's essentially a registration process. And if you comply with that, there are really no other specific requirements for a school.

"Obviously, it needs to be safe, it needs to make sure the employees and children are safe, just like any other business, but there's really not a whole lot that's required by the state of California.

"They're very loose and flexible when it comes to these private schools. 

"There are no other checks aside from what a normal business would be subject to.

"So, for instance, the fire marshal may come to our law firm here to make sure that it's safe. But, aside from that, there are no other mandated California Department of Education checks or requirements for a private school.

"If they want to eventually go to high school and college, they have to meet certain requirements at certain ages.

"But the parents have to demand that their kids are able to pass those tests at those milestones. But if the parents aren't demanding that, then the school doesn't have to."

Naema and Ron said one of the most worrying claims was exposed electrical wiring.

Around 2022, one Plaintiff in Hailey's lawsuit claimed there were "electrical wires sticking out, baseboards coming off the walls, and
carpets lifting."

Instead of addressing the teacher's complaints, they were allegedly told, “It's a work in progress” and "We're working on the kinks," according to the complaint.

Ron said, "At the end of the day, Kanye funds the school, Kanye pays everyone, so if he's getting pushback on something he wants, he has no problems getting rid of that person and paying someone that won't say no.

"And the problem with retaliation and why, especially in California, there is such an emphasis for attorneys like us to take on those cases is because you want to stop that when it happens."

Hailey also previously alleged this week that Kanye wanted to teach the children to shoot guns and march, with her claims backed up by another teacher involved in the lawsuit.

Hailey, whose case has a trial date set for April next year, described the school as being more like a "zoo" and alleged any push-back on Kanye's wild demands fell on deaf ears.

"He did want the children to learn marching," Hailey claimed.

"He wanted all the children to be educated in how to carry a gun, how to shoot a gun."

"I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? I'm not having my third graders out learning how to shoot rifles, absolutely not.'"

There is no indication that children at the school ended up marching or completed rifle training or that families who had to sign NDAs were aware of the plans. 

The U.S. Sun revealed this week that the school is no longer registered with the state of California as of June 2024.

However, papers were filed for it to become a charity, with the full name Donda Ray Academy.

Insiders say children now audition, and coaches who have worked with Kanye for years still deliver sessions focusing on dance, choir, and basketball.

Donda still has an active Instagram account and although Kanye has little to do with the day-to-day running of the project, he's not fully removed.

A source told The U.S. Sun, "We are operating training for the youth. For free. Pouring into our youth and the community, which has always been one of Ye's visions."

They insisted the children at Donda Ray are "thriving" but confirmed they still take "certain directives" from their founder, although they did not confirm what they were.

"We are fortune enough to hold the building because Ye invested his own money into the vision," they added.